DEF CON has been a part of the hacker community for over two decades. Pick up a bit of history and origin on the About Page. The DEF CON FAQ has the answers to most of the common questions you might have.

If you’re interested in a deep dive into these subjects, please visit our workshops page for all the details. You’ll also want to bookmark that page and check back frequently, as we’ll be adding more in the coming days.

Posted 3.12.18

May 11 approaches, DEF CON enthusiasts, and we have news! Village selection is underway - we can already confirm the following for DEF CON China [beta].

Lockpicking Village, hosted and run by the lock wizards of The Open Organization of Lockpickers (TOOOL). You could not be in more capable hands, whether you’re learning the ropes or testing your skills.

Posted 3.3.18

DEF CON China [beta], co-hosted by Baidu Security, is happening May 11-13, and we’re moving into high-gear Con mode! In addition to the Call for Papers, we’re also opening up the following Calls:

Contests and Events. Puzzlemasters, game-makers and party-throwers, bring us your best ideas! We want to share the fun side of DEF CON with the world, and if your proposal is selected, we’ll pitch in to make it a reality.

Villages. The hands-on mini-con is a perfect introduction to DEF CON, and we’re looking to you to conceive, plan and run the DEF CON Village we’ve never seen but always needed. Assemble your team, create your proposal and join us in Beijing!

Demo Labs! This is your chance to show off the project you’ve been hacking on, and get attention and feedback from the DEF CON community. Take that open source effort out of the garage and into the spotlight!

You’re still reading - probably because you’re psyched and looking for where you sign up, right? Maybe a DEF CON China website where you can find all the rules, parameters and relevant info? We’ve got that. Head over to https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-china/dc-cn-index.html, get spun up and then make us proud!

Posted 2.21.18

The Social Engineering Village has issued its official Call For Papers for DEF CON 26! That means it's time for those of you adept in the dark arts of persuasion and wetware exploitation to drop everything and get your potential presentation together. You have until April 1 to leave and impression and win the chance to speak to the best SE audience anywhere.

Posted 2.14.18

DEF CON founder The Dark Tangent has been in Beijing finalizing the agreements for DEF CON China [Beta] - it’s already looking very exciting. As you can see in the attached pictures, the look is already starting to take shape.

The signing ceremony included a New Year’s gift of some really beautiful locks from our partners at Baidu. The locks are in an ancient style, symbolizing the long history of security and security culture.

Posted 2.6.18

DEF CON 26 is getting off to an early start this year, with our own Call for Everything opening in mid January. It Looks like Packet Hacking Village and Skytalks are getting an early start as well, with both opening Calls or Papers in the last week! Check em out!

Posted 1.30.18

The DEF CON China [Beta} Call for Papers is open! We are seeking presenters with fresh ideas and exciting research to share with the DEF CON community.

The event takes place soon – May 11-13, 2018. We are accepting and reviewing proposals on an expedited schedule, and speaking spaces are limited so please respond quickly. We are happy to work with you to perfect your proposal if it arrives in time.

The rules for submissions are explained in detail on our CFP page, The Chinese translation of these rules will be online very soon.

Posted 1.29.18

After more than a year investigating the possibility of bringing DEF CON to China I am proud to announce that we are going to do a [Beta] event in Bejing this May 11-13th!

That means everything is on a very short schedule. This week we will be opening the CFP and launching the China [Beta] sub-site with all the information you need to know to attend or to participate. Interested in running your village, contest or event there? We can help make that happen. Want to speak? Get your materials ready!

The SE Village Call for Papers is also open! If you’ve got a dynamite talk in you for the social engineering space, you have until April 1 to get your stuff together and submit. SE Village is one of the most popular at DEF CON, so don’t delay, and bring your A game!

Posted 1.15.18

DCG Ambassador Jayson Street gives a New Year's update on what's coming up for DEF CON Groups worldwide. Sharp-eyed viewers will notice he's apparently doing this in an underground DEF CON museum. :) You can (and should) learn more at defcongroups.org.

As always, if you want that hacker-fresh feeling all year long, find a local DEF CON Group and get involved! DCGs are all over the world, Bogota to Kiev to Cape Town. Can't find one? Start one! Check out this brand new post on how to start a group!

Posted 12.20.17

Get excited, hacker family! In honor of its tenth anniversary as a DEF CON attraction, Hardware Hacking Village is retooling for DEF CON 26 with all kinds of new energy! There's a new Soldering Skills Village, a new focus for HHV Classic and tons of new resources.

We couldn't be more excited to see all the upgrades in person! Follow @DC_HHV on Twitter and check out their website for more details on all the changes coming for next year!

Posted 12.15.17

We've given you a lot of reading so far, so here's an assignment that can be completed in under two hours - The 2006 Alfonso Cuarón film 'Children of Men'.

The movie fits the theme of 1983 by being a thoughtful and moving study of hope and resistance in the face of calamity and misrule. It also features a bunch of stellar performances and some crazy precision camera work (keep your eyes peeled for the long, unbroken takes).

'Children of Men' fits our theme in other ways, too - the set design could hardly be more in line with our DC26 style guide. Concrete skies, graffiti, neglected brutalist edifices everywhere - it's probably as close to a match as you're going to find so feel free to take inspiration from it.

Posted 12.7.17

The DEF CON Voting Village co-hosted an event with the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy to highlight cyber vulnerabilities in our elections infrastructure. At the event, Noah Praetz, Director of Elections with the Cook County, IL Clerk's office issued "2020 Vision" a plan that details ways federal, state, and local government can work together to improve the security posture of U.S. voting infrastructure.
You can read the plan here: https://www.defcon.org/images/defcon-25/Election Security White Paper_Praetz_12062017.pdf

"The results of the Voting Village were summarized in detail in a report. It is notable that participants, who did not have any previous special expertise in voting machines or access to any proprietary information or source code, were very quickly able to find ways to compromise every piece of equipment in the Village by the end of the weekend. Depending on the individual model of machine, participants found ways to load malicious software, gain access to administrator passwords, compromise recorded votes and audit logs, or cause equipment to fail. In most cases, these attacks could be carried out from the ordinary interfaces that are exposed to voters and precinct poll workers. The first machine was compromised by a participant within 90 minutes of the doors opening."

Posted 12.1.17

The heart of the DEF CON 26 theme is the concept of the counterfuture. The counterfuture is the open-source alternative to totalitarian dystopia; a world where we use tech and ingenuity for empowerment and connection rather than isolation and control.

In the spirit of the counterfuture, we offer book two in our pre-con homework series: ‘Cryptonomicon’ by Neal Stephenson. It’s a bit of an epic, so you’ll want to pencil in some real reading time. The story concerns two historical inflection points, WWlI and the eve of the 21st century. In both eras, Crypto and savvy are all that protect us from a spreading and despotic darkness. In both, hackers (of various kinds)are the carriers of the counterfuture.

Posted 11.28.17

In keeping with the DC tradition of releasing a list of books, movies and other cultural products to help you get into the headspace of our theme, we offer the first suggested reading assignment: 'Little Brother' by digital-age soothsayer and frequent DEF CON speaker Cory Doctorow.

Don't let the YA trappings trip you up - the book contains a toothsome examination and critique of the dangers of the police state and the role that hackers, makers and like-minded troublemakers can play in turning the tide.

It's also fun. Share your thoughts with us in the comments and stay tuned to this space for your next assignment.